Alpine touring?

BumPskiA

BumPskiA

Member
Any one know some about this? All I know is that hiking is slow and painful especially in ski boots and I don't want to telemark Is AT a good idea if not what do you reccommend. Here is what I've tried so far for getting into the backcountry.

Hiking in ski boots - sucks

Ski boots with snowshoes - sucks

snowshoes with regular hiking boots - good but I have to pack my boots and change when I get to the top

 
I got a pair of alpine trekkers last winter, they fit into your alpine bindings and convert them to a telemark ski more or less. Once you reach your destination you take the Alpine trekkers out and just click into your bindings. I've heard a lot of people complain about these saying they are weak and dont work well.

I went on a mountaineering trip with 20+ people I was the only one without a At/Tele setup. I didn't have one problem and I was just as fast as everyone else.

In the end in all depends on how you ski. If you like just making powder 8's then getting something like the Fritchi Freerides (which are a telebinding you can lock/unlock the heel on). the downside to these bindings is they are very plastic and if you ski agressivley you are guarenteed to break them, often.

I care more about the skiing than the hiking so I would much rather have my alpine bindings with high Din's when it comes time to ski the line you just worked your ass off for.

If you have anymore questions hit me up

We pay our debt sometimes.
 
thanks, I've heard of the trekkers that might be the way to go because like you I am more concerned about the skiing than the hike and I don't want to get some plastic bindings just because they get up the hill easier

 
Wrong wrong wrong wrong. The Freerides are no where near a tele binding. not even close.

A tele binding makes your boot flex. your toe is always on the ski, and then your ski boot bends, or flexes.

An AT binding works on a hinge at the tip of your foot where as the hinging point of a tele boot is a ways back.. Your foot/ boot does not flex almost at all. it works on a hinge and the whole sole of your boot stays flat when it goes up. when you stride up a hill, your toes and arch are not flexed. they are straight.

AK Pride
 
yeah thanks sherlock, I was refering to the freeheel movement of the Fritchi's while the heel isn't locked. I know about 50 people who broke their fritchi's multiple times last season and there's no way I would ever buy them unless they beefed them up or made them out of metal.

We pay our debt sometimes.
 
as someone who has used Alpine Trekkers, or tour wreckers as I often call them, and a true AT set up.....I say go with the AT set up forsure.

This, though, does depend on the type of touring you are doing. If you are touring maybe 5 days a year or less you may as well go with trekkers as they will save you a lot of money and they do work ok.

I had issues with my trekkers. Mine eventually broke, were replaced by BCA, and I sold them and got Fritschi Freeriders.

Much much nicer, IMO. Trekkers worked well, but are really clanky and hold you really high off the ski. THey were just not extremely user friendly.

Freeriders was a vast vast improvment. Much nicer going up, and they work great coming down.

If you are touring for more than a couple of hours than the weight difference between the two gets to be noticable. So, if you're spending all day going up and down you really get to notice the difference.

Skiing wise, they aren't race stocks......There is some lateral flex associated with them, but nothing horrible. And this only really affect you on groomed condition, in Pow they work great.

Recently some guys did a stiffness test on both AT and some alpine bindings. Freeriders and the newest Naxo did much better than the marker bindings that were tested, with about 50% less flex.

If you know how to actually land cliffs and don't ski like a fuck up freeriders are fine in most situation. I've hucked about 15 feet on mine before and haven't broken them, and I've seen friends huck 30 footer before and have no problems.

They do break more easily than regular bindings, but they aren't as unreliable as was stated above. Most people I know are extremely pleased with them

So, if you want to actually get seriously in to touring, which I totally recommend as Pow in the backcountry never stops =), get a set of freeriders or the New Naxos. They are worth the extra money.

if you are just going to be doing small hour long skins outside of ski areas and such a few times a year, Trekkers should be fine. You'll save a lot of money and get to use your alpine bindings.

So, figure out which type of tourer you want to be and decide from there

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the choice for me really was would Trekkers or freeriders last longer. I broke trekkers really fast. They, as freeriders, have lots of plastic in them.

Freeriders have lasted me a long time, tour much better, and ski great.

As far as a more durable AT binding, it will be coming soon.

The new Naxo are suppose to be much beefier and now have a din to 13, and after this season Fritschi is suppose to be redesigning the Freerider to incorporate more metal and a high din.

So, maybe for the kid interested, get some trekkers for now and wait for the new AT bindings that should come out hopefully by next season. They should be really sick

========================================

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178 Volkl V

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Yeah like I said get the fritchis if you all about cruising pow, but if you skiing really agressive lines or hucking big cliffs I wouldn't trust them. I've personally seen them break into pieces on 25 footers, it's a judgement call. I'm gonna keep my trekkers for days where maybe we wanna film lines or cliffs in the BC, but for days where its all about cruising and making 8's ill prolly mount some fritchis on my old pocketrockets (way lighter setup)

We pay our debt sometimes.
 
yeah, I do huck less aggressively on freeriders, than I do when I'm using P18 or s916.

Skiing wise, though, they seem to do fine.

Most of the time when I'm in the BC it is for pow anyway, and for that they do great. They have handled great on smaller cliffs under 20 feet for me.

Most of my hucking days are in bounds on cliffs where I know what I'm landing on, know what my equitment can handle, and know if I fuck up self or assisted rescue aren't going to be a huge deal.

If I wanted to huck more BC I would probably use trekkers and s916, but hucking and charging for me has always been a inbounds thing.

The BC, for me, is just about small hucks, deep deep snow, amazing places, and chilling with friends in as safe a fashion as possible. For that, Freeriders rule.

========================================

Looking for ski stuff?? Buy mine....

178 Volkl V

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Hey iggy, How you like the s916's, I was thinking about pickign a pair up because they don't make widebrakes for the P18's/fks185's. I used to like salomon bindings untill I ripped a pair in half last season and realised they were pre-ejecting on me more than scratch 140's that I replaced them with. I know the s916's are way more metal and they look good and you can buy widebrakes for them. P.S why in the hell do they not make widebrakes for the look/rossi racestocks thats just incredibly stupid

We pay our debt sometimes.
 
this year, finally, P18 should be available with fat brakes.......god damn finally.

You can, though, bend out the break for P18 pretty easily. Just take the bindings apart, pop off the metal plate on the bottom, remove the brakes, bend, and put them back together. My current P18 could easily be bent out to fit a spatula, but these ones are going to be a 189 Seth Vicious in a few weeks.

If you want, I can PM a link to a fucking awesome TGR tutorial on how to do it. I just followed that and it worked great.

I love the s916 and P18, both are awesome. I'll rant about both of them.

The s916 is great. I currently have s914 on my spatulas and as soon as a decent deal on the s916 comes up I'm gonna swap them out, as the slop from the s914 doesn't do well with the spatula. S916 are so comforting. The click when you step in is just reasuring as hell. they have no prerelease problems like the s914 and s912. You don't have to crank the din up or adjust them every other day to keep them on.

THe P18 is awsome as well. Keep you in and hold you there unless you need to come out. Little heavier than the s916, but I actually like heavier bindings.

both are pretty much indestructable.

between the two....it is just a matter of which is cheaper. If I didn't have to redrill the Spats I would consider both the P18 and s916 as a replacement for the s914, but redrilling spats is a bitch.

Either binding you go with you know you will be safe and you skis are gonna stay on your feet. To me, that gives me a lot of confidence. Race stocks are worth every penny.

========================================

Looking for ski stuff?? Buy mine....

178 Volkl V

Marker Bindings for cheap

Helly Helly Fur Hooded Jacket

DNA and The North Face Jackets

Bonfire Pants

 
I use the new NAXO AT binders on a pair of 181 k2 cheifs...heavy set up for sure, but a hell of a lot better than trekkers...they do fine shrappling the nar, I have even hit some moderate rocks in the 20-30 foot range...which is all you should be doing if your going somewhere that requires skinning and hiking...anything larger and you risk equipment failure regardless of what you ride...and breaking a ski 10 hours away from nowhere sucks!!!

I have about 40 days of good riding on the naxos and they are a good system....but they are AT bindings which means more play and a different flex...

 
get some teles! but if you don't wanna, i have heard good things about the naxo's

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I want a pair of those really bad. they are just kinda pricey.

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you can find them for like $75 used. It may just be worth it to buy them new, though, as mine and a few others I've seen tend to break after not too long. BCA will replace them no quetions asked, though, with a receit

========================================

Looking for ski stuff?? Buy mine....

178 Volkl V

Marker Bindings for cheap

Helly Helly Fur Hooded Jacket

DNA and The North Face Jackets

Bonfire Pants

 
I got about 40 days on my trekkers last winter and I didn't pop out once or have any equipment failure. It's just bulkier to carry those things in your backpack once you're ready to ski. Thats the only thing that freaked me out a little is the point metal objects in my backpack. But it's good for sessioning a little area where you can take your pack off

We pay our debt sometimes.
 
if you can make trekkers last they are a good investment, they just didn't do so for me. They day they broke was a real pain in the ass as well.

Also.....if you skiing BC it is usually a good idea to keep your pack on.......even when just skiing small slopes, IMO.

If that slope slides or someone is injured it just delays the rescue time. WHat if you need skins or your trekkers to get to somebody instead of wading thru deep snow? Or they are buried in a slide and your shovel and probe aren't there.....

I'm sure in certain situations skiing without your pack is fine....but I really wouldn't want to risk it, especially over the bulkiness of trekkers, which isn't really that bad. Just seems to me that taking that risk is letting your guard down a little too much.

========================================

Looking for ski stuff?? Buy mine....

178 Volkl V

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DNA and The North Face Jackets

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I'm talking about actually skiing, but sessioning a jump or some natural feature you should be fine. It isn't like you should be building jumps where there is avalanche rish anyhow

========================================

Looking for ski stuff?? Buy mine....

178 Volkl V

Marker Bindings for cheap

Helly Helly Fur Hooded Jacket

DNA and The North Face Jackets

Bonfire Pants

 
just be a man and go tele. you can even get karhu 7tm tours and those are a dream for touring. you flip a switch and you go from flexing to a hinge on the front of your foot.

AK Pride
 
well I'm not going tele that is for sure, I just don't know if I want to go for AT bindings. This will be on ether pocket rockets or the new 1080 gun.

 
if you want to seriously get into it get AT bindings.

If you don't, just get trekkers and tour whenever.

If you are this apprehensive about getting AT bindings it seems like you may not want to get THAT into it, and should just get trekkers. You can always upgrade later.

========================================

Looking for ski stuff?? Buy mine....

178 Volkl V

Marker Bindings for cheap

Helly Helly Fur Hooded Jacket

DNA and The North Face Jackets

Bonfire Pants

 
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